Inman dominates Greenville Warbirds, completes sweep

Thursday

Jul 11, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 12, 2013 at 12:56 AM

Inman Post 45 rolls to second round of American Legion playoffs with 13-5 victory on Thursday.

By KEVIN MELTONkevin.melton@shj.com

INMAN — It took two days for Dylan Miller to record a complete game.But, that's OK with him. It resulted in a 13-5 Inman sweep against the Greenville Warbirds in the first round of the American Legion upper state baseball playoffs on Thursday night at Inman Mills Park. Post 45 took the best-of-five series 3-0 and will next host West Columbia in the second-round opener at 7 Monday night. West Columbia swept its first-round series against Fort Mill as a result of a forfeit.Miller (Boiling Springs) began Thursday with a 2-1 lead with two outs in the top of the second after the game was suspended the night before due to rain. He cruised for much of the contest other than the fourth after giving up four runs on six hits that tied the game at 5. He recovered to scatter four singles the remainder of the game and finished with 12 strikeouts.“I've never done that before, so it was a little tough,” said Miller of the two-day stretch. “I liked having to come out here having just one out to get back on the field. It was something different. I had never thrown nine innings before.”Inman quickly retook the lead with three runs in the fifth and put the game away with a three-run home run from Jo Jo Bradley to increase the score to 11-5 in the sixth. Miller said the run support helped his cause to finish the game.“It means a lot,” he said. “I think that (Inman coach Steve) Skinner has confidence in all of us starting pitchers. All three of us are capable of getting out of jams and proven we can get out of jams, especially myself.”“We had a rough inning in the fourth,” Skinner said. “We built a lead, and they come back. They never really hit the ball hard. They had two or three infield hits and a walk. He was throwing strikes, and when Dylan throws strikes he's going to be successful. After that inning he pitched, I thought, the best game he's pitched for us in two years. He wanted to finish, and I let him. Hopefully, it will build his confidence.”Inman put up three runs in the third through fifth innings and added a pair in the seventh. Bradley finished with three RBIs and three runs scored. Taylor Kellner added a triple and three RBIs, while Brooks Richardson, Cory Cremonese and Landon Collins each doubled.“(Greenville) did a good job of battling. I'll give it to them,” Bradley said. “They just had enough. Our bats, they just couldn't hold them. Everybody was hitting.”“We put pressure on them, run a lot and got clutch hits,” Skinner said. “That's what we've got to do to be successful. Hopefully, we can carry it into next week.”